This is an interesting story. 

Remember the man of God from Germany who said his name was Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann?

Well, if you’ve gone hazy in the head all of a sudden for whatever reason, please let me rattle your memory.

As far as I’m aware, the first time I’d heard about Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann was when an email, bearing his name arrived at the Samoa Observer, on 25 October 2018.  

In it,  he revealed he was staying at the Piula Theological College, out there at the Anoama’a. 

It also said: “Dear Sir: Walking in the streets of Apia I saw some young men, one by one, dressed neatly and wearing on their shirts, the sign to be identified as missionaries of the LDS (Later Day Saints) ’Church’.”

“I asked them what they were here for, and they said they wre bringing the true Gospel of Jesus who loves all mankind.”

“When I said that this Gospel was already here, they replied: No, the churches here do not know the right one; only we, the LDS have it, and therefore we must do this.” 

“When I told them about their strange history they would not believe it. I then praised their personal commitment but for a false matter they left.”

“Now my concern (is): How for goodness sake does the LDS dare to make proselytises in a country which is under the Christian God, and took the preamble of the Constitution into it thus, making it look as if it’s a constitutional rank.” 

Dr.Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann went on to say: “The LDS is not a Christian Church as they deny central Christian creeds. They are not members of the World Council of Churches but a cult.”

“How then do they fit into ‘Christian principles and Samoan Custom and tradition?’ In fact they break the Constitution! Religious freedom is not covered by such activities the LDS is practicing. 

“Sincerely,

“The Rev. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann.

“Visiting Professor from Germany.” 

And then in the 28 October 2018 edition of the Sunday Samoan, the editorial titled, Christian principles, Samoan Customs and “six millions Jews,” was published.

The next day, when his letter was not responded to, Rev. Dr.  Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann, emailed saying: “Concerning my Letter to the Editor yesterday, I am staying with the Piula Theological College.”

The letter was signed by The Rev. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann.

In response, the writer emailed Dr.Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann, saying to him: “Talofa Dr. Kuhlmann,”

“I’ve received your letter.”

“I thought it would be just right for the Sunday edition of the Samoa Observer, since yours is a very relevant topic for discussion here in Samoa on Sunday, when most people go to church.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann did not respond. 

Still, as I’m now thinking about Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann claim that the LDS is not a Christian Church, nor is it a member of the World Council of Churches, since it’s just a cult, right now I’m aware that my mind is zooming backwards in time, to when around six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime in Germany during the Second World War. 

Indeed, the story is that between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis sought to eradicate the entire Jewish community of Europe. It was when victims were murdered by death squads, or were transported to death camps during the Holocaust, which was mainly in Eastern Europe in places such as Poland and Ukraine.

As for the term Holocaust, it referred mainly to the orchestrated murder of groups targeted by the Nazi regime including Romanians, Soviet Prisoners of War and civilians, Polish civilians, homosexuals, socialists, communists, trades unionists, disabled people, Freemasons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Nazis did not act alone. Countries which were occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War, such as Lithuania and the Ukraine, assisted the perpetrators.

And yet, here in Samoa in October 2018, Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann is spreading the word, saying: “The LDS is not a Christian Church as they deny central Christian creeds. They are not members of the World Council of Churches but it’s a cult. 

“How then do they fit into ‘Christian principles and Samoan Custom and tradition?’ In fact, they break the Constitution! Religious freedom is not covered by such activities the LDS is practicing.”

The truth is that the depravity of war in Germany, where six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust would have made it quite impossible, for those who were living there then to know what the truth truly looked like.

As for the LDS Church, it was formally organised by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830, in western New York. Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published Book of Mormon, a self-described chronicle of indigenous American prophets that Smith said, he’d translated from golden plates. 

Later, the LDS Church’s headquarters were located in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.

And then in May 1843, four men were sent from Utah, to work as missionaries in the islands of the Pacific. Around the same time, two missionaries were also sent from Hawaii to establish the Church in Samoa. 

They were Kimo Pelia and Samuela Manoa; they laboured faithfully for nearly twenty years, isolated from the strength and support of the Church back there, in the United States of America.

Pelia and Samuela baptised some in Tutuila, American Samoa. Later, after Elder Joseph H. Dean and his wife, Florence Ridges Dean arrived, the mission was formally organised on 17 June 1888. 

By1891, the mission in Samoa was developing steadily; along the way its headquarters were established right here in Apia, the capital of Western Samoa.

And so, how then is it possible that after all these years, they are still feeling at home with those Christian principles, Samoan Customs and Traditions, right here in Samoa today?’ 

Well, perhaps Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann should know that it was that reason the editorial titled, Christian principles, Samoan Customs and “six millions Jews,” was published in the Sunday Samoan, on 28 October 2018. 

In any case, two days later, on 30 October 2018, another email from dr-kuhlmannarrived. 

It said: 

Dear Sir, 

I thank you for publishing my letter concerning the Mormon missionary activities on Samoan soil, though wrapped in a strong anti-German packing which, however, has nothing to do with the issue. 

Nevertheless, I now want to advice you to read: “The American Holocaust” by David Stannard and “The Mountain Meadows Massacre” by Juanita Brooks. 

The rest is with the Christians here to judge. 

Sincerely, 

The Rev . Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann, PhD, Theologie.

P.S. 

He went on to say: I hope you will also publish the “Holocaust”and “The Mountain Meadows Massacre”, as well. 

In response, I concur, saying: Of course, Dr.Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann, with respect, I will. 

Now here they are:

American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World by David E. Stannard (Author)

www.amazon.com 

“For four hundred years--from the first Spanish assaults against the Arawak people of Hispaniola in the 1490s to the U.S. Army’s massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s — the indigenous inhabitants of North and South America endured an unending firestorm of violence. 

During that time the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by as many as 100 million people. Indeed, as historian David E. Stannard argues in this stunning new book, the European and white American destruction of the native peoples of the Americas was the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world.

Stannard begins with a portrait of the enormous richness and diversity of life in the Americas prior to Columbus’s fateful voyage in 1492. He then follows the path of genocide from the Indies to Mexico and Central and South America, then north to Florida, Virginia, and New England, and finally out across the Great Plains and Southwest to California and the North Pacific Coast. 

Stannard reveals that wherever Europeans or white Americans went, the native people were caught between imported plagues and barbarous atrocities, typically resulting in the annihilation of 95 percent of their populations. What kind of people, he asks, do such horrendous things to others? 

His highly provocative answer: Christians. Digging deeply into ancient European and Christian attitudes toward sex, race, and war, he finds the cultural ground well prepared by the end of the Middle Ages for the centuries-long genocide campaign that Europeans and their descendants launched--and in places continue to wage--against the New World’s original inhabitants. 

Advancing a thesis that is sure to create much controversy, Stannard contends that the perpetrators of the American Holocaust drew on the same ideological wellspring as did the later architects of the Nazi Holocaust. 

It is an ideology that remains dangerously alive today, he adds, and one that in recent years has surfaced in American justifications for large-scale military intervention in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

At once sweeping in scope and meticulously detailed, American Holocaust is a work of impassioned scholarship that is certain to ignite intense historical and moral debate.”

The Mountain Meadows Massacre 3rd Edition

by Juanita Brooks  (Author), 

www.amazon.com

“In the Fall of 1857, some 120 California-bound emigrants were killed in lonely Mountain Meadows in southern Utah; only eighteen young children were spared. The men on the ground after the bloody deed took an oath that they would never mention the event again, either in public or in private. The leaders of the Mormon church also counseled silence. The first report, soon after the massacre, described it as an Indian onslaught at which a few white men were present, only one of whom, John D. Lee, was actually named.

With admirable scholarship, Mrs. Brooks has traced the background of conflict, analyzed the emotional climate at the time, pointed up the social and military organization in Utah, and revealed the forces which culminated in the great tragedy at Mountain Meadows. The result is a near-classic treatment which neither smears nor clears the participants as individuals. It portrays an atmosphere of war hysteria, whipped up by recitals of past persecutions and the vision of an approaching “army” coming to drive the Mormons from their homes.”

Are you happy now Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann?

Please let us know.